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June 30, 2009

Clinton Cites 'Huge Credibility Gap' in Iran Over Election
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US secretary of state also deplores Iran's detention of several Iranian
staff members of British embassy in Tehran 
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 08 Jun 2009U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said Monday that a "huge credibility gap" remains
among Iranians about their country's June 12 presidential election,
despite the partial vote recount that is said to have upheld the
announced victory by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Clinton
also deplored Iran's detention of several Iranian staff members of the
British embassy in Tehran. Clinton says the broad skepticism among
Iranians about the electoral process and the apparent re-election of
President Ahmadinejad is unlikely to be quelled by Monday's announcement
by Iran's Guardian Council that a partial recount upheld the
originally-announced outcome. The powerful council, which supervises
elections and has wide-ranging powers in the Islamic government, said a
random recount of 10 percent of the ballot boxes nationwide upheld Mr.
Ahmadinejad's landslide victory over reformist challenger Mir Hossein
Mousavi. Clinton, appearing at the State Department's daily press
briefing, said she did not want to speculate on Iran's political future,
but she that the reported recount is unlikely to do much to defuse
election-related tensions."Obviously, they have a huge credibility gap
with their own people as to the election process," said Hillary Clinton.
"And I don't think that's going to disappear by any finding of a limited
review of a relatively-small number of ballots. But clearly, these
internal matters are for Iranians themselves to address. And we hope
that they will be given the opportunity to do so in a peaceful way that
respects the right of expression. And it has been my position and that
of our administration that we support the fundamental values of peoples'
voices being heard, their votes being counted. And we'll have to see how
this unfolds."Clinton declined to say whether the Obama administration
will formally recognize Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election, saying U.S.
officials are!
  going to "take this a day at a time" and carefully assess what happen
s. She also would not say whether the violent election aftermath has
ended U.S. hopes of engaging Iran on its nuclear program and other
issues of concern. But Clinton said it certainly is a reason for caution
in dealing with Tehran."We're going to watch this unfold and were going
to act in America's national interests," she said. "That's what this has
always been about. It has never been about Iran as much as it's been the
values, goals and interests of the United States of America. And we
remain committed to doing all we can to try to prevent Iran from
becoming a nuclear weapons power. So we're going to watch this. And
we're going gauge our actions accordingly."Clinton said Iran's arrest of
several Iranian staff members of the British embassy in Tehran for
alleged links to post-election unrest was deplorable and that the United
States continues to support Britain in seeking the release of those
still held.